Undercover for vehicle

ABSTRACT

An undercover for a vehicle, connected to an underbody below a muffler mounted on the underbody, includes: a main body panel in a plate shape, through which insertion holes are formed; a heat absorption plate to be connected to the insertions holes; and a heat radiation plate to be connected to the heat absorption plate, the remote ends of which are exposed below the main body panel. A heat exchange function is added to an undercover that has been used simply as a cover for protecting the muffler from foreign substance, thereby cooling more efficiently the muffler.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority of Korean Patent ApplicationNumber 10-2013-0059477 filed May 27, 2013, the entire contents of whichapplication is incorporated herein for all purposes by this reference.

BACKGROUND OF INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The present invention relates to an undercover for a vehicle, and moreparticularly, to an undercover for a vehicle, which is connected to acenter tunnel that forms a floor surface of a vehicle body, anddischarges promptly heat energy, which is exhausted from a mufflermounted to the center tunnel, toward an outside of the vehicle.

2. Description of Related Art

Generally, air flows along an outer appearance line of a vehicle and apressure of the air varies while the vehicle drives.

In a passenger car of a general type, air that passes through an upperpart of the car is to be diluted relatively and thus a pressure of theair becomes low, whereas air that passes through a lower part of the carhas a high pressure wherein the pressure difference appears differentlyin accordance with a driving velocity and appearance of a vehicle, etc.

Accordingly, a vehicle with a high performance for a driving at a highspeed is designed to have a low air resistance coefficient withreflecting the aerodynamic features and further a rear spoiler, etc., isprovided additionally at a rear of a vehicle for applying down-force tothe vehicle during a driving.

Meanwhile, various suspension devices and exhaust devices, etc., aremounted on a lower part of a vehicle, and in a case of a vehicle with 4wheel drive or rear wheel drive, power transmission devices, etc., aremounted thereof, and thus an underbody forming a floor of a vehicle isformed as a curved shape.

Accordingly, the air passing through the lower part of a vehicle may notmove promptly to a rear of the vehicle to serve as a factor ofincreasing air pressure on a lower part of the vehicle, causing to makea handle light and shakes of the vehicle at a high speed driving.

An under panel 5 in a shape of a flat plate to cover the entireunderbody is additionally mounted to a lower part of a vehicle with ahigh performance, as shown in FIG. 1A, in order to prevent a stay of airflow due to the curved underbody.

That is, the under panel to be mounted on a general vehicle ismanufactured relatively in a small size to cover only a lower part of anengine room for protect an engine and major components, and anundercover 3 in a plate-shape is mounted separately to a center tunnel 2to which a muffler 4 is mounted, as shown in FIG. 1B, however, the underpanel 5 to be mounted to a vehicle with a high performance (integratedwith the undercover or as a separate component) is manufactured in alarger size to cover a rear of a vehicle as well as the engine room at afront of the vehicle.

However, the under panel 5 and the undercover 3 to be mounted on avehicle with a high performance inhibit cooling of the muffler 4installed to an underbody 1. That is, the muffler 4 through whichexhaust gas passes is heated to a high temperature and cooled naturallywith a driving wind when a vehicle drives, but the under panel 5 that isinstalled on a lower part of the underbody 1 and has a flat shape of aplate guides the driving wind to flow rapidly to a rear of a vehicle,thereby defining the time and wind amount for cooling the muffler 4 withthe driving wind.

As a result, according to a related art, a large amount of expensiveinsulation is applied to the muffler 4 and the surrounding part thereofas a thermal barrier.

However, according to a conventional configuration, even though theexpensive insulation material is applied additionally thereto in avehicle with a high performance in which the under panel is extended toa rear of the vehicle, it can only prevent heat damage to the mufflerand the surrounding portion and it is difficult to increase a coolingefficiency of the muffler.

The information disclosed in this Background section is only forenhancement of understanding of the general background of the inventionand should not be taken as an acknowledgement or any form of suggestionthat this information forms the prior art already known to a personskilled in the art.

BRIEF SUMMARY

Various aspects of the present invention provide for an undercover for avehicle, which is mounted to an underbody together with an under panelbelow an muffler mounted on the underbody, or to an opening on the underpanel to expose the muffler, in order to improve further coolingefficiency of the muffler.

Various aspects of the present invention provide for an undercover for avehicle, which is connected to an underbody below a muffler mounted onthe underbody, include: a main body panel in a plate shape, throughwhich insertion holes are formed; a heat absorption plate to beconnected to the insertions holes; and a heat radiation plate to beconnected to the heat absorption plate, the remote ends of which areexposed below the main body panel.

A plurality of heat absorption protrusions are formed on the heatabsorption plate.

A plurality of insertion holes are formed at both sides of the heatabsorption plate and the heat radiation pipes are fitted into theinsertion holes, respectively, such that the remote ends of the heatradiation pipes are exposed outside.

A middle of the main body panel is bent to be convex downward and theremote ends of the heat radiation pipe are bent upward to be adjacent tothe main body panel.

The heat radiation pipe is configured with a heat pipe in which anoperation fluid enveloped in a sealed inside thereof is evaporated andcondensed repeatedly in accordance with external temperature variationsto discharge heat energy absorbed from one side to the other side.

It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similarterm as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such aspassenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses,trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety ofboats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles,electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-poweredvehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived fromresources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicleis a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example bothgasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.

The methods and apparatuses of the present invention have other featuresand advantages which will be apparent from or are set forth in moredetail in the accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein, andthe following Detailed Description, which together serve to explaincertain principles of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1A is a perspective view showing an under panel mounted to cover anentire underbody of a vehicle;

FIG. 1B is a view showing an undercover according to a related art;

FIG. 2 is a view showing an exemplary undercover that is mounted to anunderbody according to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a view showing a heat absorption plate and heat radiation pipeto be mounted a main body panel through which mounting holes are formed;

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along A-A in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the heat absorption plate that isseparated from the main body panel;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view showing the heat abruption plate from whichthe heat radiation pipe is removed to show insertion holes; and

FIG. 7A a longitudinal view of the heat radiation pipe having a heatpipe configuration

FIG. 7B is a cross sectional view of the heat radiation pipe having aheat pipe configuration.

It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarilyto scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of variousfeatures illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. Thespecific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein,including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations,and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intendedapplication and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent partsof the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference will now be made in detail to various embodiments of thepresent invention(s), examples of which are illustrated in theaccompanying drawings and described below. While the invention(s) willbe described in conjunction with exemplary embodiments, it will beunderstood that present description is not intended to limit theinvention(s) to those exemplary embodiments. On the contrary, theinvention(s) is/are intended to cover not only the exemplaryembodiments, but also various alternatives, modifications, equivalentsand other embodiments, which may be included within the spirit and scopeof the invention as defined by the appended claims.

An undercover for a vehicle according to various embodiments of thepresent invention is mounted below a muffler 4 installed to a centertunnel 2 of an underbody 1, which will be described in detail

Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, a main body panel 30 connected with a heatabsorption plate 10 and a heat radiation pipe 20 is mounted to theundercover 100 according to the present invention.

The main body panel 30 is shaped to be a plate both ends of which arebent to form steps of predetermined sizes, respectively, similar to theshape of a conventional undercover, wherein through which mounting holes31 are formed to open upward and downward (viewed in FIG. 4) for theheat radiation plate 10 to be fitted therein.

The heat absorption plate 10 of the present invention is shaped to be arectangular plate and is thicker than the main body panel 30 wherein aplurality of heat absorption protrusions 11 are formed on an uppersurface facing the muffler 4, as shown in FIGS. 5 and 6. The heatabsorption protrusions 11 are spaced each other at a constant intervalto increase area for absorbing heat radiated from the muffler 4.

Furthermore, insertion holes 12 into which the radiation pipes 20 arefitted, respectively, are arranged at both sides, which are faced eachother, of the heat absorption plate. 10. Accordingly, the heat radiationpipe 20 is fitted into the insertion hole 12 of the heat absorptionplate 10 below the main body panel 30 such that an end of the heatradiation pipe is exposed outside.

The heat absorption plate 10 to which the heat radiation pipe 20 isconnected is fixed to the main body panel 30 through two bands 40 andfastening bolts 41.

As described above, the main body panel 30 is bent to form steps at itsends and be convex downward and the remote both ends of the heatradiation pipe 20 are bent upward to be adjacent to the main body panel30.

Meanwhile, the heat radiation pipe 20 according to various embodimentsof the present invention may be configured as a heat pipe having aconfiguration as shown in FIGS. 7A and 7B.

That is, in the radiation pipe 20 as a heat pipe, the operation fluid(wick), which is enveloped in a sealed inside thereof, absorbs heat(radiated from an muffler at a side where it is fitted into theinsertion hole) and is evaporated 1) from liquid to gas, and then movesto the remote end exposed outside from the inside of the heat radiationpipe 20 to be cooled with external air and condensed 2).

Furthermore, the operation fluid, which is condensed in a liquid state,moves toward a side of the heat radiation pipe 20 where it is fittedinto the insertion hole 12, with capillary force to repeat theabsorption procedures, which are described above.

According to the undercover for a vehicle of the present invention, heatexchange function is added to an undercover that has been used as asimple cover to increase cooling efficiency of the muffler 4, and a heatpipe is applied to the heat radiation pipe 20 to have a circulation-typeforcible cooling configuration, thereby increasing further a coolingefficiency of the muffler.

Furthermore, existing heat shielding components mounted around themuffler 4 can be deleted to save cost and improve a dischargingperformance of the exhaust gas.

According to the present invention, heat exchange function is added toan undercover that has been used simply as a cover for protecting themuffler from foreign substance, thereby cooling more efficiently themuffler.

The heat radiation pipe is exposed to a lower outside and the main bodypanel is bent so that the undercover can be mounted to a kind of vehiclein which it is difficult to cool a muffler with a driving wind due to ashape of the undercover.

A plurality of heat absorption protrusions are formed on the heatabsorption to increase an area to be exposed to heat, and the heatradiation pipe is configured with heat pipe, thereby increasing furtherheat radiation efficiency.

For convenience in explanation and accurate definition in the appendedclaims, the terms upper or lower, front or rear, and etc. are used todescribe features of the exemplary embodiments with reference to thepositions of such features as displayed in the figures.

The foregoing descriptions of specific exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention have been presented for purposes of illustration anddescription. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit theinvention to the precise forms disclosed, and obviously manymodifications and variations are possible in light of the aboveteachings. The exemplary embodiments were chosen and described in orderto explain certain principles of the invention and their practicalapplication, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to make andutilize various exemplary embodiments of the present invention, as wellas various alternatives and modifications thereof. It is intended thatthe scope of the invention be defined by the Claims appended hereto andtheir equivalents.

What is claimed is:
 1. An undercover for a vehicle, which is connectedto an underbody below a muffler mounted on the underbody, comprising: amain body panel including a plate shape and insertion holes extendingtherethrough; a heat absorption plate to be connected to the insertionsholes; and a heat radiation plate to be connected to the heat absorptionplate and including remote ends exposed to an exterior of the vehiclebelow the main body panel.
 2. The undercover for a vehicle of claim 1,wherein a plurality of heat absorption protrusions are formed on anupper surface of the heat absorption plate.
 3. The undercover for avehicle of claim 1, wherein a plurality of insertion holes are formed atboth sides of the heat absorption plate and heat radiation pipes arefitted into the insertion holes, respectively, such that the remote endsof the heat radiation pipes are exposed to the exterior of the vehicle.4. The undercover for a vehicle of claim 3, wherein a middle part of themain body panel is convex downward and the remote ends of heat radiationpipes are bent upward to be adjacent to the main body panel.
 5. Theundercover for a vehicle of any one of claims 1, a heat radiation pipeis configured with a heat pipe in which an operation fluid enveloped ina sealed chamber is evaporated and condensed repeatedly in accordancewith external temperature variations to discharge heat energy absorbedfrom one side to the other side.